The .NET Insider - Issue 33

The .NET Insider - Issue 33

Explore free Blazor components, ASP.NET Core authentication changes in .NET 11 RC2, Copilot agents, and developer tools in The .NET Insider #33.

Hi everyone,

This week, I’d start with two reads: Syncfusion’s free Blazor toolkit and Tore Nestenius’s look at authentication changes in .NET 11. One could save you some UI work; the other helps explain the smaller changes that are easy to miss when planning an upgrade.

There’s plenty happening around AI coding tools too. I’ve picked out the practical parts below, alongside a story about maintaining an inherited .NET system. Sometimes the most useful lessons come from keeping an existing application running.

Two reads to start with

Free Blazor components from Syncfusion

Saravanan G · Syncfusion

If you’re building a dashboard or internal tool with Blazor, this is worth a look. Syncfusion’s MIT-licensed toolkit includes charts, dialogs, date inputs, and other common components. It supports Server, WebAssembly, and Auto render modes, with no license key required even for commercial projects.

The first thing I’d check is whether it covers the components your application needs. This is a separate offering from the commercial suite, so the name alone doesn’t tell you what’s included.

What changed in ASP.NET Core authentication for .NET 11?

Tore Nestenius · nestenius.se

Planning an upgrade? Tore compares the source code across .NET 10 servicing releases and .NET 11 RC2, separating fixes already available in .NET 10 from changes coming in the next major version.

He covers cookie sessions, Windows Authentication, authorization logs, and Data Protection. One detail worth checking: applications using a session store get a fix for signing out and back in during the same request. He also explains which authentication handlers have little or no change.

I like the focus on what changes for an existing application. It gives you concrete behavior to review alongside the release notes.

Published October 25. The .NET 11 findings are based on RC2, rather than the final release.

Around your development workflow

Visual Studio: resolve merge conflicts in bulk · Mark Downie
When several conflicted files need the same resolution, you can now apply Keep All Current or Take All Incoming to a selection or folder. October’s roundup also covers the refreshed Copilot chat experience, alongside the commit comparisons and Hot Exit we looked at last issue.

Give Claude Code clearer permissions in your .NET project · David Grace
Should your coding assistant start the app, edit migration files or update a database without asking? David walks through project-level permission rules using those exact situations. A practical read if you want fewer interruptions while keeping deliberate checks around particular operations.

Godot, C# and Rider in one workflow · Anna Ruban
Rider’s Godot support spans GDScript, C#, and C++ extensions, including mixed-language debugging and C# tests. Anna also previews the live scene tree and node inspector for C# debugging in the 2026.3 EAP. Those additions require a preview build.

Preview an Azure deployment before running it · Kristen Womack
azd deploy --preview shows resolved service targets and deployment operations without deploying. October’s updates also bring Container Apps express support and a beta command for removing stored environment values. Start with the preview feature if you want to inspect where a deployment is headed.

Publish extensions without a long-lived token · Lynn Dai
Visual Studio Marketplace now supports federated publishing identities from GitHub Actions and Azure Pipelines. The setup differs between the two providers, and Lynn walks through both. Verify your first successful release before removing the existing publishing secret.

Analytics on Live Data Without Leaving Postgres

When analytics on Postgres slows down, most teams add a second database. Then come the pipelines, the sync jobs, and a copy of your data that's always a little behind.

TimescaleDB takes a different approach: extend Postgres instead of splitting away from it. Hypertables partition your data automatically as volume grows. Hypercore compression cuts storage up to 95%. Continuous aggregates keep dashboards live without re-querying everything.

CERN runs Postgres this way for sensor data from the Large Hadron Collider.

No split architecture, no pipeline lag, no new query language to learn. Same SQL, same drivers, same tools.

Start on Tiger Cloud and get $1000 in credits.

Get $1000 Credit

Building and working with agents

Microsoft’s Copilot harness is available through Foundry · Tina Schuchman and Vladimir Fedorov
If you’re building an agent, the model is only part of the work. Microsoft’s harness handles the surrounding execution loop, context and tools, with support for MCP and skills. There’s a downloadable SDK and a managed Foundry option to evaluate against your application’s needs.

What’s new in VS Code 1.144 · Visual Studio Code Team
Copilot Fusion coordinates models, while side-by-side comparisons let you try the same task with different choices. There are also new agent-session controls. Check the feature labels before adopting them: image generation is in preview, and desktop computer use is experimental.

Lessons from existing applications

Taking over a .NET visitor system · Umer Farooq
A WPF app, an ASP.NET MVC portal, a shared database and a face-recognition SDK: Umer explains what maintaining this system taught him. His hindsight on compatibility, employee-data synchronization and update testing makes this a welcome break from new-project tutorials.

Why Azure SQL Hyperscale separates the database into four parts · Anna Hoffman
Why should adding a read replica require copying an entire database? Anna explains how Hyperscale separates compute, logging, page servers, and durable storage, and what that means for backups and scaling. An earlier read from October 25.

A roadmap for your next .NET interview · Anton Martyniuk
Use Anton’s roadmap to find the subjects you’d rather an interviewer didn’t ask about. It covers runtime fundamentals, async, ASP.NET Core, EF Core, and system design, with different expectations for seniority levels. Originally published July 7; shared on DEV again this week.

A few shorter reads

• Do “eval” folder names change agent behavior? · Waldek Mastykarz - Roughly 900 runs found greater suspicion of being tested, without a statistically significant behavioral difference in the scenarios studied. A reminder to evaluate actual actions and results.

• Control a local coding agent from your phone · GitHub - Agent Host connects GitHub Mobile to work running on your development machine. That machine must stay on; cloud sessions provide a separate option.

• The infrastructure behind GitHub’s agent plans · Jay Parikh - GitHub’s Universe recap includes its infrastructure expansion alongside the product announcements: four million additional CPU cores and 160 PB of high-speed storage during 2026.

Thanks for reading,

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